1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical instruments.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
In orthopedic surgery, pins are regularly used to temporarily affix jigs, such as cutting blocks, to the bone. A standard technique for affixing a jig to a bone is for a surgeon to hold the jig to the bone, carefully insert the pins through apertures in the jig, and then drive the pins into the bone through the holes in order to achieve the fixation. The number of pins needed for affixing each jig varies typically between two and four, and often two or more jigs need to be temporarily affixed to the bone. Consequently, sometimes ten or more pins need to be inserted to the jigs and drilled into the bone during a surgical procedure. This pin insertion process must be done very carefully by the surgeon in order to avoid pin jamming or stripping and can take up to several seconds or longer for each pin. As a result, the total time for pinning can add several minutes or more to a surgical procedure requiring a larger number of jigs.